Careful Repairs
by Stargazer at Moonlight
Summary: Follows Unsure Reactions. Soundwave, after being brought out of a memory loop, injures himself enough to require repairs. Shockwave helps correct that.


Being careful was second nature by then, so he did not change the way he was around the mech. Emotionally, however, he did pull back as he, the symbionts, and his mechlings were all quite aware of how they would be affected if he made a fool of himself in front of a mech that turned him down. He sighed deeply in regret. If only Staticwire had not been deactivated in a mine collapse all those vorns ago, he would already be happily bonded and with a brood of his own. Frenzy and Rumble were the miner's sparklings and, sometimes, they would do or say something just like the large mech that would send him into a fit of melancholy. They had picked up so much form him in the short time they had been around the dark mech before his deactivation.

It had not been fair, those first few orns without him. The bondmates of the others off-lined during the collapse had acted as if he did not understand their suffering because they had not been sparkbonded and he had been denied the credits that should have gone to him as the listed beneficiary by some technicality, making survival hard on the small family. He had never bothered to investigate the matter, though he knew he should have. His twins had lost the bond with their Sire so suddenly and he had chosen to focus all of his attention on them, knowing how devastating such an event was from having lost his Carrier when he had been about the same age. Frenzy had coped by talking enough for all of them and Rumble had bottled everything, like he had so long ago. Neither had ever fully recovered from that, but he had not expected that kind of miracle.

Ravage bumped her frame against his legs to draw his attention and remind him that he still needed to be working. The reminder was gentle, but jarred him from memories he normally kept buried as deep in his processor as possible so that they would not affect his normal functioning and caused him to lurch to the side, hip slamming into the table he was using as a workstation hard enough to dent both. It was extremely out of character for him to be so clumsy, but he could not stop himself that time due to his distraction and the grief welling up in his spark, which he was attempting to suppress before it reached his mechlings. While he accepted that Staticwire was gone and he had moved on romantically, he still missed him terribly, especially as they had been the closest of friends even before they had become lovers.

Shockwave looked over at the noise to see the carrier-host inspecting his hip and the dent that he could see there. It had to be pinching wires and tubing, but he disregarded it for the moment to crouch down and comfort his symbiont. The cat had apparently startled him and was feeling guilty over that small fact. Distracted as he was, he knew that he would need to satisfy his concern for the mech before he could return to his work on the weapon. At the same time, he would be able to get his hands on that smooth, enticing plating and, if he were to let a hand drift to Soundwave's aft, no one would be the wiser as to the deliberateness since he knew that it was not believed that he knew what interfacing was. Just the thought of getting his hands on the communications officer made his temperature escape from his firm hold.

"Soundwave?" he asked to catch the carrier-host's attention. "I have the necessary tools to affect repairs of the damage. Take a seat on a berth while I gather them."

His heavy tread faded from the immediate area before Soundwave dared to attempt to move from his crouch. The scientist's offer to assist was more than he had thought would be offered, especially as it was well-known that he dealt with all small repairs to his frame. Several more astroseconds passed before he deemed the mech gone from audial range.

"Ravage: assessment."

She chuckled lowly, rubbing her cheek against the silver face mask before leaning back to answer. "You want his hands on you anyway, Soundwave. Why not allow him to do the repairs and indulge yourself at the same time? You know that your repairs on your own frame are usually subpar."

The carrier-host's temperature raised a fraction in embarrassment at the revelation that his symbionts recognized his interest. "Ravage: impertinent."

"Of course I am. You knew that before you bonded me."

"Truth," he murmured in mock-sadness.

Shockwave returned a short time later to find that the navy and white mech had not moved from where he had been when he had left the room. "Do you require assistance?"

"Affirmative," came the reply, only slightly tinged by embarrassment and chagrin, which the scientist was surprised to recognize until he realized that he had never heard the mech speak outside of business settings, which this clearly was not.

He set the gathered tools on the nearest berth before moving over to help the other mech, crouching down next to him and slipping one hand beneath the carrier-host's aft and the other steadying him from along his back strut as he tipped him backwards until he could pick the delicate mech up. It was the easiest way to move him to the berth, though, with such smooth plating rubbing on his, he almost wished that it had taken longer. That was especially true of the fact that his hand and arm were brushing over a navy valve cover. What he would not give, at that moment, to just cup that aft and grind his palm against that cover until it slid away to grant him access to the heat behind it.

Carefully setting the delicate frame down on the berth, his hands slid to the damaged hip, deliberately exploring the entire dent before rescuing the dent puller from the bottom of the small tool pile. He would have to be careful in removing the dent in tiny increments so as to minimize the pain as energon tubes, sensors, and neural wiring reconnected with the currently inaccessible limb. He began the process before turning his gaze on the frozen leg to analyze when it would be possible to move it as painlessly as possible. That would take a while, leaving that delicate frame at his mercy. With a heavy huff, he turned from the berth to try and block the temptation that was laid just behind him and was something he did _not_ want to be too obvious about. No mech would be interested in him after hearing any of the rumors that circulated through the Decepticon ranks. On top of that, he did not know of any mech or femme that was truly interested in, what most believed to be, a faceless mech.

Ravage shot a smug look in the carrier-host's direction behind the scientist's back. That was just more data to add to the mech's file and the analyses that they were all doing of him since he would have to work well with each of them on several different levels. The next step would be seeing how he responded to one of the mechlings or symbionts in any way that they felt like testing him. They both felt it would be Ratbat that began that testing with how reckless he had been lately in his attempts to amuse the twins, but no one would push him into it as the symbiont had a hard time keeping secrets from anyone.


End file.
